Tension bridle



April 19, 1966 c. H. DAVIS TENSION BRIDLE 3 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Jan. 8, 1964 April 19 1966 c. H. DAVIS 3,246,818

TENSION BRIDLE Filed Jan. 8, 1964 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 April 19, 1966 c. H. DAVIS 3,245,818

TENSION BRIDLE Filed Jan. 8, 1964 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 United States Patent O 3,246,818 TENSION BRIDLE (Iharles H. Davis, Shrewsbury, NJ., assigner, by mesne assignments, to The Gillette Company, Boston, Mass., a corporation of Delaware Filed Ian. 8, 1964. Ser. No. 336,549 9 Claims. (Cl. 226-90) This invention relates to material handling systems and more particularly to transfer control mechanisms useful in systems for reeling or otherwise handling strip, Wire, tape and similar materials of indeterminate length which materials will herein be referred to for convenience as sheet material.

In the transfer of sheet material to or from reels, it is frequently desirable to interpose a transfer control mechanism which impedes the movement of the sheet. For example, it may be desirable to retard the sheet movement to create tension on the sheet material so that the material may be wound compactly on a reel. In other situations, it may fbe desirable to provide isolation between successive stages of a processing system. Where high speed transfers are involved, a conventional transfer control mechanism employs a series of rolls through which the sheet-material is passed in` alternate fashion (the rolls being driven or adjustably braked or loaded). In this manner slack in the sheet material maybe avoided.

However, it is ditlicult to thread sheet material through the convoluted path employed in such control 'mechanisms. Where the sheet material being handled is a fragile material or delicate in otherrespects, this threading problem becomes quite significant. A further complexity arises when the alignment of the sheet material relative to the transfer control mechanism is critical, as is often the case where a plurality of strands of sheet material are to be simultaneously controlled by a single transfer controlwunit. When the rolls are not driven but only frictionally loaded, for example, they may be relatively easily displaced from their convoluted path positions. drives to either assist or retard the transfer, it becomes diicult to displace the rolls from their convoluted path positions due to the drive connections to the rolls.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide novel and improved transfer control mechanisms for use in sheet material handling systems.

Another object of the invention is to provide novel and improved tensioning apparatus in which the threading of strip material therethrough is facilitated.

Still another object of the invention is to provide novel and improved transfer control mechanisms of the driven type in which transfer control elements may be readily moved between a transfer control position in which they are coupled" to 'a common rotationall control input and a threading position in which there is provided a direct path for passing sheet material therethrough in a threading operation. l

A further object of the invention is to provide novel and improved variable torque rotary brake apparatus.

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ment. In this manner there is created a substantial amount of surface contact between the sheet and the series of drive roll surfaces and the resulting friction is employed to obtain tensioning or other transfer control effect.

The pair of drive elements is also mounted for rotation about yan axis parallel to and preferably located intermediate the axes of the drive elements in that pair. The elements are movable about that pair axis from the transfer control (S sheet configuration) position to a threading position in which the axes of th-e two elements lie in .a plane that is substantially perpendicular to the general direction of movement of the sheet through the transfer control apparatus. With the drive elements in the threading position, a straight, relatively wide path between the drive elements is provided. Sheets may be easily and rapidly inserted into the apparatus along this path in a manual operation without necessarily contacting any drive element so that the threading may be accomplished expeditiously and without damage to or mislocation of the sheets. After the threading is cornpleted, the pair of elements is rotated to its transfer control (tensioning) position, convoluting the sheets as it is moved to that position, and in that position the drive elements are connected for drivin-g in coordinated relation from a common drive source to apply a tension- In more sophisticated mechanisms employing In accordance with the invention there is provided a ing or other transfer control force to th-e sheet.

The ability to rapidly thread sheet material through such as tensioning apparatus substantially reduces nonproductive setup time. In addition, the apparatus enables delicate or fragile sheet material to be easily threaded This is a particularly significant advantage where a series of drive element pairs is utilized. In previous devices attempts at threading through a tortuous path such as required for transfer control of this type often resulted in misalignment and/or damage to the sheet; and`this improved apparatus eliminates such diiculties.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be seen as the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof progresses, in conjunction with the drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is al diagrammatic view of .a slitting and reeling apparatus for slitting a plurality of strands from a strip of steel stock and winding the slit strips on individual reels with tension controlled by a variable torque rotary tensioning apparatus constructed in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a top view, partially in section, of the tensioning apparatus shown in FIG. l;

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic side view indicating a portion of the gear trains employed in the tensioning apparatus;

FIG. 4 isa diagrammatic view of the opposite side from that shown in FIG. `3 indicating other portions of the gear trains employed in the tensioning apparatus;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line 5-,5 of FIG. 3 showing details of the drive -and roll mounting and positioning mechanism employed in the tensioning apparatus;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a drive roll pair support disc;ar1d

FIGS. 7 and 8 are similar diagrammatic views of the tensioning apparatus showing the three pairs of rolls in a tension controlling position (FIG. 7) and in a threading position (FIG. 8).

The apparatus illustrated in FIG. l is designed to slit thin steel stock at a rate of tive hundred feet per minute and above in a manner to produce accurate and uniform strip edges. This stock is in the order of one to six thousandths inch gage and is slit by a slitting mechanism generally indicated at It) by two sets of cutter elements 12, 14 into six or more strands I6. After being slit into the several strands, the material enters a slack loop at 18, and then the excess stock width is fed through a brake 2t) and over roll 22 to take-up reel 24.

The several strands I6 are fed through guide 28 and tension bridle 3) for transfer via individual rolls 32' to strand take-up reels 34 that are individually driven by associated servo controlled drive units, one of which is generally indicated at 36.

As indicated in FIG. l and in FIG. 7, the path of the strands 16 through the tension bridleV 30l is through successive pairs of smooth surfaced rolls 40, following an S-shaped path over each pair of rolls so that the strands 16 contact each roll 40 over an angle in excess of 180 o-f the annular roll surface. The rolls 40 are driven in unison by variable torque rotary brake 38 and the substantial frictional` engagement between the driven rolls 40 and the strands I6 assures proper tensioning control on the strands.

Further detailsof this tensioning apparatus will be seen with reference to FIGS. 2-5. The rolls 40. arev mounted between upstanding frame walls 42, 44 and are driven from the rotary brake 38 by means of Itiming belt 46 and pulley 48 mounted on drive shaft 50. Shaft 50 drives helical gear 52 which meshes with gear 54. Gear 54 is keyed to the end of shaft 66-6 which extends out beyond Wall 44.

On the opposite end of shaft 60-6, outwardly of wall 42, is secured gear 62-6 which meshes with roll drive gear 62-5 keyed to shaft 60-5 on which roll- 40-5 is mo-unted. Also mounted on shaft 66-6 outwardly of gear 62-6 is coupling gear 64 which meshes with and drives gear 66 secured to shaft 60-3.. In like manner, on the opposite end of shaft 60-3 is secured gear 62-3 which meshes with and drives gear 62-4 keyed to shaft 60-4 on which roll 40-4 is mounted. A coupling gear `68 is also mounted on shaft 60-4 and meshes with gear 70 mounted on shaft 60-1. Keyed to shaft 611-1 is drive gear 62-1 which meshes with gear 62-2 to drive shaft 60-2 and roll 40-2.

The several roll shafts are mounted in conventional bearings generally indicated at 72 for rotation about parallel axes and', as can be seen from the above description of the gear train, are positively driven through the series of gears 52, 54, 64, 66, 63, and 76 in synchroni'sm from the common drive unit and as such may apply either a retarding or advancing force tothe strands 16. Conventional controls including sensors such as photoelectric devices control the rotational speed of the rolls 40 to apply' a reta'rding force which acts to maintain the slack loop 18 by resisting the winding forces generated by the individual reel drives so that the strands I6 may be wound with specified tension.

The roll shaft bearings 72 are 'mounted in discs Si? (shown in FIG.' 6) which in turn are set into the bridle walls 42, 44. Each disc has gear teeth 82 formed at one edge of its periphery and a recessed bearing surface 84 located toward the opposite edge with a radial disc positioning collar surface 86 formed between the gear element and the bearingy element of each disc. The discs Ialso have two apertures 88 in which the bea-rings 72' are received.

Each wall 42, 44 has three cylindrical apertures, the centers of which are aligned, and each disc is set into a corresponding aperture so that the collar surface 86 is seated Iagainst the outer surface of the wall. The three discs in wall 42 are designated 80-L 80-3, and 805, in descending order, while the three discs in wall 44 are correspondingly designated 80-2, 80-4, and Sti-6. (It will be noted that disc Sil-6 further has a coaxial recess which receives bearing 81 for supporting the end of shaft in coaxial relation.) The two corresponding discs carried by opposite walls thus serve to position the roll shafts that they carry in parallel aligned relation.

Two pairs of idler gears 90 engage gear teeth S2 and provide coupling -between the discs.

Two shafts 92, 94 extend between the support walls 42, 44 and an idler gear is keyed to each shaft end where it protrudes through the wall. A handle 96 is also secured to shaft 92. Rotation of the handle 96 turns the upper two idler gears 96 which in turn rotate discs Sil-I, Sti-'2, 86-3, and 80-4. The movement of discs Sil-3 and Stb-4 is coupled by the lower idlers to rotate discs -5 and Sil-6. The discs and rolls that they carry thus may be moved between a closed o-r tension applying position shown in FIG. 7 and an open threading position shown in FIG. 8 in synchronized movement.

In the position sho-wn in FIG. 8, a straight path is provided parallel to the centers of the three pairs of wall apertures throughy which the several strands 16 can be easily passed. There is substantial space between the rolls 40v in each pairv in this position so that any desired rearrangement or aligning of the strands may be readily accomplished; The freedom in threading provided when the rolls are in this position eliminates substantially all the damage to which the strands might be subjected with a more complex threading path. After the strands have been properly threaded, the discs are rotated, by means of handle 96, through an angle of slightly less than 270 to the position shown in FIG. 7. In that position each strand contacts each roll surface over an angle in excess of 180 and thus significant frictional drive is afforded.

It will be noted that the couplingy gears 64, 66, 68, and 70 are in mesh only in the tensioning position (FIG. 7), but the driving gears 62 remain in mesh during rotation of the discs. The helical gears 52, 54 also remain in mesh throughout the disc rotational movement as the axis of shaft 50 coincides with the center of disc Sil-6, as indicatedv above, and gear 54 move-s around gear 52.

In the tensioning position the tension bridle Sil acts to retard strands I6 through frictionall engagement between them and rolls 40 as the strands are being pulled onto reels 34V by power sources-.36. The controilable torque rotary brake 38 drives rollsL 4t) through. the gear train, pulley 48, and timing belt 46V to resist the pullingy forces of sources 36. Thus, the tension in strands 16 for desired reeling conditions is controlled through tension bridley t) by the'interaction of power sources 36 and -brake' 38. while a slack loop is maintained vbet-Ween the the cutters I2, 14 and the tension bridle.

While a preferred embodiment of the invention has been. shown and described, various modifications therein will be apparent to those skilled in the art. For example, other configurations of transfer control elements may be employed (their surfaces'may be rubber covered for example). A variety of drive sources and driven couplings `suitable for use in thisV type of mechanism *also are wellknown. Therefore, it is not intended that the invention be limited to the disclosed embodimentor to details thereof, and departures may be made therefrom within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the claims.

What is claimed is:

1. Transfer control apparatus for handling sheet material of indeterminate length, comprising a pair of sheet support elements, each said sheet support element being mounted for rotation about its own-axis,

means for supporting said pair of support elements for rotation about an axis parallel to the axes of said pair of support elements,

means for rotating said pair of support elements about its pair axis from a threading position through an angle of at least about 180 to a transfer control position, andA means engaging said support elements in said'transfer control position for driving said support elements in opposite directions about their own axes to apply a transfer control force to sheet material trained over said support elements.

2. Transfer control apparatus for handling sheet material of indeterminate length comprising a plurality of pairs of sheet support elements,

means for supporting each said sheet support element for rotation about its own axis,

means for supporting said pairs of sheet support elements for rotation about an axis parallel to and intermediate the axes of the support elements of that pair,

said pair axes lying along the general path of sheet movement through the apparatus, and

means for rotating each said pair of sheet support elements about its pair axis from a threading position in which the axes of the two sheet support elements in that pair lie in a plane perpendicular to said general path through an angle of at least about 180 to a transfer control position.

3. The apparatus as claimed in claim 2 and further including drive means interconnecting said pairs of sheet support elements for driving said sheet support elements in rotation about their own axes to impart transfer control force to sheet material in frictional engagement with said sheet support elements.

4. The apparatus as claimed in claim 3 wherein said drive means includes an input drive element mounted for rotation about an axis parallel to and coincident with the axis of one of said pairs, and

means for coupling said input element in driving relation directly to one of the support elements of said one pair.

5. The apparatus as claimed -in claim 2 wherein said pair supporting means includes a cylindrical disc mounted for rotation about its own axis.

6, A tension bridle for retarding the movement of sheet material of indeterminate length, comprising a pair of sheet support rolls, each said roll being mounted for rotation about its own axis,

means for supporting said pair of rolls for rotation about a pair axis parallel to and intermediate the axes of said rolls,

means for rotating said pair of rolls about pair axis from a threading position through an angle of at least about 180 to a tensioning position,

a rotary brake, and

means coupling said rolls and said brake together in driving relation when said rolls are in said tensioning position so that said brake rotates said rolls in synchronism in opposite directions about their own .axes to apply a tensioning force to sheet material trained over said rolls.

7. Apparatus for controlling the transfer of sheet material of indeterminate length between a sheet manipulating mechanism and a reel for applying controlled tension to the strands while maintaining a slack loop intermediate said reel and said manipulating mechanism comprising a support framework having two spaced upstanding support members,

a cylindrical aperture in each said support member, the

two apertures being disposed in corresponding locations in said two support members,

a disc disposed in bearing relation in each said aperture for rotation therein,

each said disc having a drive surface extending around its periphery for engagement with a cooperating drive element, a peripheral bearing surface displaced axially from said drive surface, and two roll support apertures disposed therein,

a pair of shaft mounted rolls extending between said discs, a shaft end of each roll being supported for rotation by a roll support aperture, said pair of rolls being disposed between said support members in parallel relation,

roll driving means including a drive element secured to each said roll shaft for driving said roll shafts in rotation from a single power source, and

disc driving means engaging the drive surfaces of said discs for rotating said discs through an angle of at least about to move said pair of rolls between a threading position in which a straight sheet material path is provided and a tensioning position in which a convoluted sheet material path is provided for movement of sheet material through said apparatus.

8. The apparatus as claimed in claim 7 wherein sald roll driving means includes an input drive element mounted for rotation about an axis parallel to and coincident with the axis of said disc, and

means for coupling said input element in driving relation directly to one of said rolls.

9. Apparatus for controlling the transfer of sheet material of indeterminate length between a sheet manipulating mechanism and a reel for applying controlled tension to the strands while maintaining a slack loop intermediate said reel and said manipulating mechanism comprising a support framework having two spaced upstanding support members,

a series of cylindrical apertures in each said support member, the two series of apertures being disposed n corresponding locations in said two support memers, v

a disc disposed in bearing relation in each said aperture for rotation therein,

each said disc having a drive surface extending around its periphery for engagement with a cooperating drive element, a peripheral bearing surface displaced axially from said drive surface, and two roll support apertures disposed therein,

a pair of shaft mounted rolls extending between corresponding discs, a shaft end of each roll being supported for rotation by a roll support aperture, each pair of rolls being disposed between said support members in parallel relation,

a driving train including a drive element secured to each said roll shaft for driving all said roll shafts in rotation from a single power source,

a second driving train including coupling elements engaging the drive surfaces of adjacent discs for rotating said discs through an angle of at least about 180 to move said roll pairs between a threading position in which a straight sheet material path is provided and a tensioning position in which a convoluted sheet material path is provided for movement of sheet material through said apparatus, and

means connecting said coupling elements for enabling the synchronized rotation of said discs between said threading and tensioning positions, said coupling element connecting means extending between said support wall members and being disposed on either side of said threading path.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,741,176 4/1956 Hollis 226-119 X M. HENSON WOOD, I R., Primary Examiner. 

1. TRANSFER CONTROL APPARATUS FOR HANDLING SHEET MATERIAL OF INDETERMINATE LENGTH, COMPRISING A PAIR OF SHEET SUPPORT ELEMENTS, EACH SAID SHEET SUPPORT ELEMENT BEING MOUNTED FOR ROTATION ABOUT ITS OWN AXIS, MEANS FOR SUPPORTING SAID PAIR OF SUPPORT ELEMENTS FOR ROTATION ABOUT AN AXIS PARALLEL TO THE AXES OF SAID PAIR OF SUPPORT ELEMENTS, MEANS FOR ROTATING SAID PAIR OF SUPPORT ELEMENTS ABOUT ITS PAIR AXIS FROM A THREADING POSITION THROUGH AN ANGLE OF AT LEAST ABOUT 180* TO A TRANSFER CONTROL POSITION, AND MEANS ENGAGING SAID SUPPORT ELEMENTS IN SAID TRANSFER CONTROL POSITION FOR DRIVING SAID SUPPORT ELEMENTS IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS ABOUT THEIR OWN AXES TO APPLY A TRANSFER CONTROL FORCE SHEET MATERIAL TRAINED OVER SAID SUPPORT ELEMENTS. 